Astrid’s grey eyes rolled over to me. She looked much older than thirty-nine, but seemed as though she was still a child. She reached over and touched my left hand with her bony fingers. She slowly flipped my hand over and revealed the tiny scar on my palm from the blood bond. She gently patted the scar and blinked twiceat me.
Hilda’s pink cheeks flushed even pinker. “This is a very good sign!” she nearly squealed. “She is in a friendlymood today!”
Hilda placed her hand on her daughter’s back. “Serafina married your son. Riyan is grown-up now, Astrid. He wants to seeyou today!”
Astrid did not react to her mother and instead kept her eyes on me as she held my hand. She patted my hand again and then returned toher porridge.
My stomach fluttered with too much anticipation to eat a filling breakfast, so I left Hilda and Astrid to wait for them in the courtyard forthe reunion.
Sweet morning air filled my nose as I stepped outside. The sun shone through wispy clouds and all the servants bustled around the courtyard, all seemingly realizing the importance of the day. Every servant and soldier avoided the battered tree trunk near the eastern wall. I rolled my eyes—I would get Riyan to move that damn trunk later so it was not ineveryone’s way.
Horses and carts passed through the open gate under the inspection of a pock-faced soldier. I handed him my letterto Annalisa.
“The recipient is a little testy,” I said with a small laugh. “We may have an assassination attempt on our hands if this letter does not reach herfast enough.”
The young soldier’s eyes widened. He handed the letter to the first cart driver that was leaving the fortress. “Deliver this to Hyton Palaceat once!”
“Why?” asked the driver. “I’m just picking up supplies from the villages. I’m not scheduled to go to Hyton foranother week.”
“It’s the order of the future Baroness!” thesoldier shouted.
The cart driver grumbled anddrove south.
I bit my tongue from embarrassment, but still savored the small amount of power I held as afuture Baroness.
As I stood at the gate, I spotted Nikkolas walking outside the walls. Hilda had assured me Astrid would not be ready to meet Riyan until noon, so I had plenty of time to ask the current Baron of Bloodstone what my life would look like as thefuture Baroness.
The young gate-guard stiffened and saluted me asI passed.
“Out for a walk, Baron Bloodstone?” I called asI approached.
Nikkolas glanced at me and slowed his pace. “Something like that. I know it will take some getting used to, but call me Nikkolas. I am quite unlike the Barons you are accustomedto, anyway.”
I caught up to him and walked beside him. “Of course,I apologize.”
“Do not apologize,” he said. “You were well-taught. I am sure the Headmistress at Ashmore would have struck your hand if she heard you referring to a Baron by hisfirst name.”
“You are right,” I said with a laugh as I thought of Headmistress Blackiston fainting in horror atmy impropriety.
“Iusually am.”
Meadowlarks tweeted as I walked next to Nikkolas on a narrow dirt path that led into a forest. He was as quiet as a phantom amongst the trees and brush, his feet walking at a constant pace in a straight line but still avoiding every twig or errant pebble in his path. As abrasive as Nikkolas was, his stern face was an oddly comforting presence in the woods. He was every bit the cold and secretive man rumors painted him to be, but he strolled through his land as if he were partof it.
Nothing could harm a Baron in his own land,it seemed.
The forest opened up to a small clearing with narrow stones sticking out ofthe ground.
“Despite Ravenwood being our closest neighbor and ally,” Nikkolas said, “you do not know much about our family,do you?”
I looked out at the rows of stones. “No, sir.”
“Good,” he said. “The Bloodstone nature is to keep to ourselves. It is a great burden, as you will see, presiding over the province that contains most ofLycaster’s magic.”
“I understand. Hilda told me about the red monster and the healing spring onthe mountain.”
Nikkolas’s eyebrows raised with pleasant surprise. “Then you already have an idea of what you are dealing with. The mountain is dangerous. When Astrid’s…incidentoccurred, my sons tried to cure her. Fraleigh would not help, so they went out ontheir own.”
Nikkolas pointed at a stone in front of us. “My eldest son, despite being my heir, went to the peak of Nordingaard and never returned. He is not actually in the grave, of course, but his wife is in the one next to him. She was the first-selected, just like you, and now she is dead. She was even pregnant with my heir and my son still decided toleave. Idiot.”
